Recently, I made a statement that said it is a disaster to have sales people operating on their own. I think sales can be better served by a team effort. One of the key players in the Value Stream Marketing concept is the sales person or sales team. I think the team should consist of a minimum of Mr Inside and Mr. Outside but to really add some fuel to the process you need to include people from marketing, engineering, service and operations.
Your teams should be created based on one and only one thing: The Customer Experience. Think of the customer experience that you could develop if you had a customer support team divided up for one state, one product, etc. Utilizing a virtual daily stand-up meeting everyone would be attuned with what was going on within the state and if a customer called in he could be handled and routed very effectively and efficiently.
Of all the different continuous improvement methods that I am aware of, I favor Lean more than others. I think about it a little differently though. Where I see Lean playing a pivotal role is enhancing or improving the quality experience more so than removing waste. I also have distaste for looking for Muda and have a tendency to look at Mura and Muri. In most discussions about implementing Lean in Sales and Marketing, the first thing that pops up is that Sales doesn’t like to supply the data that is needed. I think that is one of the major stumbling blocks in developing a lean culture not only in S&M but through-out the company.
Expecting your sales people to supply more data and become a collector of data is one of the most wasteful things that you can do. Sales efficiency properly defined is the amount of selling time spent face-to-face with the customer and more precisely the customer decision-maker. Bottom line, the salespeople who spent more time in front of customers sell more. So go back to the team concept, the team should maximize the salespersons face to face time with their customer.
But to apply improvement you need data, right? Look at the following measurements:
- Gross Sales
- Gross Revenue
- Product Distribution
- Average length of sales cycle
- Average selling price
- Average size of deal
- Number sales per month per salesperson
- Number of calls needed to close the deal
- Average gross margin
- Number of quality sales calls per month
Name me one of these numbers that many of us determine important for sales that a salesperson needs to generate. These all can be generated from the team and truth be known most automated from typical accounting data. When a team has share responsibility to deliver improvement on these numbers versus one person, your sales will improve.
Another important aspect to the team concept is the ability to handle customer’s request more effectively and efficiently. Having a team concept the customer can call with an engineering or operation or service request and talk to a familiar body and someone knowledgeable with their account. This improved Face Time will ultimately be distributed to increased revenue.
Before you think about implementing Lean or Six Sigma in your Sales and Marketing Process take a step back and think about how these tools will deliver a better Customer experience and as a result grow your revenue.
Bottom Line: To increase Sales, increase Face Time. To increase Face Time, increase bodies.
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